Your Sewage Facilities

Wastewater Long Range Facilities Planning - Palo Alto's Regional Water Quality Control Plant 
: It has been in operation since 1934 and now serves 6 communities including Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Stanford, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills. Aging equipment, new regulatory requirements, and the movement to full sustainability will require rehabilitation, replacement and new processes.  The Long Range Facilities Plan will map out these changes and focus on biosolids treatment and disposal, waste-to-energy technologies, energy use, major pipeline repairs, recycled water treatment, carbon footprint impacts, and the best alternatives for rehabilitation, replacement or improvement.

The steps in treatment process are preliminary, primary, secondary, and tertiary. In preliminary treatment, the large particles are removed.  In primary treatment, the water pumps to the tank. The smaller particles are collected on the bottom. In secondary treatment, the bacterial organism eat the waste.  During tertiary treatment, tiny particles are filter and passes time compressed.  Then, UV light kill rest of bacterias that are harm for human.




http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/news/displaynews.asp?NewsID=1471&TargetID=65
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-ezirRMZ8c

Bottle water campaign

Yes, the bottled water is more convenient to use.  We can just buy it from anywhere easily and throw away the empty bottle.  However, how much do we know about the bottled water? Many people think the bottled water is cleaner and healthier than tap water.  Is it always true?   I was also one of the consumers who was attempted to buy bottled water.  I did not trust the tap water because I did not know what it is in and where it comes from. I spent so much money to buy the bottled water every week and thought it was worth.  However, after the researching of the water source in my area, I discovered that I did not need to be scared by the tap water.  We should take a look the test for bottled water verses tap water.  The test result made me even surprised that one of water company has the lower level than tap water.  Also, if you are like me who can't trust without evidence, I recommend to check your water source and what chemicals contained in the web side. Lastly, we should really feel guilty whenever we make garbage every plastic water bottle, which go to the mountain in India for lots of years and years!  

My slogan:

What is the difference between the bottle water, which is run by Coke company, and the free tap water?

Consumer Confidence Reports and water quality

`What is the source of your drinking water?  Where does your water ORIGINATE? 
Water in Palo Alto is from Cal Water.  The system for water in Palo Alto is Fetch Hetchy Reginal Water system. 

What chemicals were found in your water that were higher than expected? 
No chemicals were higher than expected. The following is the chemicals in my water :
Aluminum, Chloride, Sulfate, Turbidity, Lead and Copper, Alkalinity, Bromide, Calcium, Chlorate, Hardness, Magnesium, Sodium, Silica. 

• What chemicals did you NOT expect to find in your water?
• Lead

Are there associated health risks with the chemicals found in your water?

 Lead: the nervous system is the most sensitive target of lead exposure.  Neurological effects of lead in children have been documented at exposure levels once thought to cause no harmful effects.  In children, acute exposure to very high level of lead may produce encephalopathy and symptoms such as ataxia, convulsion,s hyper irritability, coma and death.   In adults, decreased libido, depression, headache, diminished cognitive performance, dizziness, forgetfulness, fatigue, impaired concentration, impotence, increased nervousness, lethargy, paresthesia and reduced IQ scores might be caused.  

• What did you discover about your water quality?
• The water quality in Palo Alto was not bad than expected.  In previous assignment for Air Pollution (Module 3.4), my county was ranked in the 10% for air pollution.  I realized that it is very strict to regulate the water quality in Palo Alto.  The San Francisco Public Public Utilities Commission(SFPUC) regularly collects and tests water samples from reservoirs to check that "the SFPUC's water meets or exceeds federal and state drinking water standard".  The SFPUC regional water system supply comes from local watersheds in Alameda and Santa Clara counties.  I was impressed by their effort of monitoring water quality. 

• Do you use a filter for your water? What are you trying to filter out? Do you drink bottled water? 
• Yes I drink water from refrigerator that contains filter.  The filter is supposed to rid of the chemicals that harms for my body.  However, some of chemicals don't affect us negatively such as Fluoride.  Also, I drink bottled water too. I leave the bottle water in my car, so I can drink when I want to drink in the car.  

Source : https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/csem.asp?csem=7&po=10

Importance of safe drinking-water

As our body is composed mostly from water, water is very important material that human consume.  Not only for human to drink, but also for plants and animals to grow.  A long time ago when there was not much chemicals that polluted the environment, we did not concern about how much we should we or how we use the water.  On the other hand, we really need to worry about how we can use the water in smart way because water we can use is limited.  In particular, American who consume 53 billion gallons have  responsibilities to acknowledge the importance of safe water.  People would not realize that our water was getting sick or try to increase the quality of water unless the laws to protect the water were set up such as the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. These federal laws have importance role to prevent the worsening of water qualities.  Like air pollution, the water pollution impacts on vulnerable population such as children or the elderly.  According to WHO, 3.2 million kids under the age of 5 die because of diseases caused by drinking polluted water and poor sanitation.  On an average, 250 million people succumb to water pollution related disease every year.  We have duties to protect our environment and need to be regulated by the law, so everyone are involved in.  

Radon

As a second leading of lung cancer, Radon is the chemical we definitely want to have a caution.  I can develop a national awareness campaign by advertising how bad Radon can be. The message via radio, newspaper and TV can increase awareness powerfully.  In particular, children are vulnerable for this toxic chemical, I need to let the parents know clearly to prevent lung cancer from Radon.  Also, I will provide the consumer for test kit through online. This will help people who live in area with poor transportation.  For the people who are not able to use online or in lower socio economic class, I will promote the visiting test for Radon at home and educate them about why Radon test is important in every visit.      

National Library ToxNet

Formaldehyde is a strong smelling chemical that is used in building materials and to produce many household products.  Formaldehyde is present in both indoor and outdoor air at low level.  During the 1970s, many house used urea-formaldehyde foam insulation.  However, industrial workers, lab technician, and some health care professionals might be exposed by inherit formaldehyde gas or vapor from the air.  When it is present in the air more than 0.1ppm, some people may have watery eyes, burning sensation in their eyes, nose and throat.  Also they will have coughing, wheezing, nausea and skin irritation.  EPA classified formaldehyde as a probable human carcinogen when exposed by higher level.


Bleach is one of common products we use to clean house.  However, Bobette Matulonga et al. suggested that bleach is risk factor for asthma.  They found out that "frequent use of bleach for home-cleaning is associated with non-allergic adult-onset asthma, elevated neutrophil counts and lower-airway symptoms in women"(Matulonga et al).  The followings are what they found from study :

Women using bleach at home were more likely to have non-allergic asthma.

  More frequent bronchial hyper-responsiveness in women using bleach.

  Frequent domestic use of bleach is associated with high blood neutrophil counts.

  In clinical practice, consider exposure to bleach in women with non-allergic asthma(Matulonga et al).

Transportation

Public transportation provides great advantages for people in the communities. It is cost efficient, better for environment and encourage physical activity.  In this view, the public transportation contributes to public health.  The public transportation in bay area is better than many other counties. However, I feel that it still need to be improved in public transpiration.   First of all, the number of public transportations is still not enough for many bay areas.  Except for San Francisco, it takes time to wait for next bus if I miss the one I want to take in other bay area.  So I would rather drive in my area instead of using transportation.  Another thing I want to point out is that the cleanliness of the transportation.  I saw the chiars were not clean, so did not want to sit many times.  There are more reasons why people don't want to use the public transportation.  I know it is not easy to improve perfectly due to various reasons like costs and time.  However, more people will use the public transportation when the quality of transportation advances.    

Air Pollution

• Who and what are the top polluters in your zip code?
• Owens Corning Corp.
• Hanson Permanente Cement
• Strongwell Corp
• Chevron Prods. co. San Jose Termincal
• Headway Techs. INC
• Jennings Tech. L.L.C
• Marbled Elegance INC.
• Lumieds Lighting US. L.L.C
• Equilon San Jose Terminal 
• IBM
• The top chemicals in my area are as follows :
• Ammonia
• Formaldehyde
• Hydrochloric Acid
• What percent of the homes in your zipcode have lead-based paint?
• 1% of house in my area have a high risk of lead hazards.
• Are there Superfund sites in your zip?  (In your BLOG, make sure to tell us what a Superfund Site is)
• Superfund Site is a U.S federal government program designed to fund the cleanup of site contaminated with hazardous substance and pollutants (Wikepedia). In my area, there are 15 superfund sites caused contamination of drinking water sources.  Theses are Advanced micro devices, inc., Advanced micro device, inc(BLDG. 915), Cts printed, inc, Fairchild semiconductor corp, Hewleftt-packard, Intel corp, Intersil inc/Siemens components, Jasco chemical corp, Lorentz barrel& drum co, Moffett naval air station, Raytheon corp, Spectra-physicis inc, Synertex, inc, Teledyne semiconductor, Trw microwave, inc.
• What can you tell us about the Superfund sites that are near where you live?
• Surprisingly, my county ranked among the dirtiest/worst 10% of all counties in the U.S. in terms of the number of designated Superfund sites In 2004. 
• What did you learn about the air quality in your zipcode?
• In 2003, my county ranked among the dirtiest/worst 10% of all counties in the U.S. in terms of person-days in excellence of national air quality standard for ozone (8 hours). Based on EPA's most current data, my county ranked among the dirtiest/worst 10% of all counties in the US in terms of an average individual's added cancer risk from hazardous air pollutant.
• How about the water quality?
• Similar to the air quality, the percentage of surface waters with impaired uses is in between 70-80% and number of impaired waterbodies is in between 60-70%.  
• How did your zipcode fair on a social justice / environmental justice basis?
• Low-income communities and communities of color may suffer greater impacts from environmental degradation than other groups, which is not fair on a social justice and environmental justice basis. Followings are distribution of burdens by few categories :
• By race/ethnicity, 
• toxic chemical releases 
• People of Color : 14000
• White : 9200 
• ratio :1.52
• Cancer risks from hazardous air pollutants
• People of Color :340
• Whites : 300
• ratio :1.13
• Superfund sites 
• People of color : 1.3
• Whites : 1.2
• ratio : 1.08
• By Income,
• Low income :12000( toxic chemicals),330(cancer risk),1.3(superfund), 41(facilities emitting criteria air pollutants) 
• High income :10000(toxic chemicals),300(cancer risk), 1.2(superfund), 32(facilities emitting criteria air pollutants) 
• By poverty,
• below poverty : 13000
• above poverty :11000
• ratio : 1.18
• By education,
• Non-highschool graduate :17000
• High school graduate  :1000
• ratio : 1.7

  

Environmental Justice

Sadly, there is racism not only in our society, but also in our environment we live.  The definition of environmental racism is "a policy or practice that differentially affects or disadvantage individuals, groups or communities because of their race and/or class" according to Nick Chiles.  To be honest with you, I have not thought about racism in environment.  However, it makes sense clearly after reading these articles.  The definition of social determinant of health are "the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life" (WHO).   In my view,  the environmental racism is one of important social determinants.  This is because poor environment affects health.  In poor environment, some particular races live separating with others.  Chiles pointed out that 3 out of 5 African-Americans live poorly in area closed to toxic waste site.  The toxic spreads into their water, air and foods, which exposed to African-American who live there. People who live in 8 places that Chiles suggests more likely to have health problems than those who live in healthier environment.  This phenomenon won't be disappear easily unless African-American stand up for their right to live in healthy environment. This brings the important concept  Justice movement.  This will help to decrease the conflict of disparities in health due to environmental racism. In similar way, the "Black Lives Matter" movement can be applied. This leads African-American to protect their right to live equally with others.      

Vulnerable Populations

In the Rishi Manchanda's Ted video, he emphasized the importance of the patients' environmental assessment.  As he pointed out, where the patients live matters more than their genetic code.  After his video, I realized that we have been missed one of major cause of disease.  In order to treat the patient better, it's significant to assess the patient's environment as well as their health history.  As Tracey J. Woodruff mentioned in her video, "Global Reproductive Health and the Environment", the medical staff such as doctor or nurse care the patient directly.  In particular, the doctors have authority to assess and take care the patients and the patients will listen and trust them.  While doctors or nurses assess the patients, they should really use upstream approaching method.

As the module for this week emphasizes, there is vulnerable populations from exposure of toxic chemicals.  In the Little Thins Matter, it shows how chemical toxic affects on children even with very low level.  In particular, IQ scores was decreased in Lead exposure in the U.S.  It was little shocked to me because we can get Lead easily anywhere.  In South Korea, which is where I came from, it is still common to feed the children with canned or processed foods.  Also, the organic foods is not as common as here.  In average, Korean people are less aware of the problem of toxic chemical than American.  Therefore, more children in Korea are at higher risk of getting toxicity.  Not only Korean have lack of knowledge about this issue, but also many other countries like China also put their children in danger to get toxicity.  This issue need to be fixed globally.

The video, "Program on Reproduction and Environment at UCSF", was very helpful for me to know how this chemicals affect on children deeply.  I enjoyed to watch each speakers' own experience associated to the topic.  For example, Tyrone B. Hayes' work experience with Atrazine and frogs.  The reproductive system of male frogs changed abnormally after exposed to Atrazine.  They have multiple testes and ovaries, function as female, and develop eggs like female.  As Tracey Woodruff explained in her presentation, the effect of toxicity does not only apply to the animal, but also to human.  For instance, breast cancer increased by Atrazine, which increases the amount of Estrogen in human body, according to Hayes. There are enough evidence to support that this toxicity increases birth defect in human.  I was very shocked when Katsi Cook presented about the breastfeeding.  She found that adolescents who had been breast fed had significantly higher PCB levels than those who had not been breastfed.  According to Maricel V. Muffin et al., "its presence was also reported in maternal and fetal plasma and in placental tissue in humans and in the milk of nursing mothers".  I have learned that breastfeeding is recommended and better than formula feeding from my OB and Pediatric nursing classes in this semester.  That is not the all case anymore in current environment.  When our environment is getting sick, women is getting sick as well.  This will make baby more sick if we don't fix and treat in right time.

In conclusion, this topic makes me alert about how seriously the chemical toxic can affect on human. Also, I realized that it is very significant to assess and intervene the problem when we can still fix it. We need to consider that how easily we can assess the chemical toxic around us.  Finally, we cannot neglect even with small amount of toxic because it affects on vulnerable population more seriously.  

Biomonitoring

Video
My first thoughts about this news with Anderson Cooper was that the blood test for toxic chemicals should be recommended for young children.  Children are more vulnerable than adults. The kids in the video have more level of toxicity than their parents, which makes me scary.  As video shows, this test is not common yet because the federal government does not require this test.  When I have a kid in the future, I would like to test my kid before it gets too late.

Lab value

I was very shocked and little panic since I was considering for having a baby sometime soon.  I feel guilty for my future baby.  I don't mind impacting on my body, but worry the bad influence on my future baby.  The chemical lists on my body look all horrible.  Dioxins causes cognitive disfunction, which makes me freak out.  PCBs are very toxicity that causes serious health effect.  I have no idea where and when I got all this toxic into my body.  Especially, I thought I was pretty good at eating healthier foods and ventilate the air at my home frequently.  I don't even smoke at all. I will find out about these, so can avoid accumulating the toxicity from now on.  I just feel so sorry for my future baby that I did not provide the healthiest environment.

Household Products

The first product I chose was Raid & Road Killer.  The reason I chose this item first was that I always have concern about this product.  I did not want to use this product, but my boy friend who lives with me hates any insects and use this product frequently whenever he sees the spider or other insects at home.  Thanks to this assignment, I finally got the chance to look it up.  Unfortunately, it says "The National Library of Medicine does not test products nor does it evaluate information from the product label or the (M)SDS" There is lack of information about Acute Health Effects including inhalation, eye contact and skin contacts.  However, there are a lot of cautions under warning as I expected.  It says "HAZARDS TO HUMANS AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS".  I was surprised little bit because health rating scale was slight even thought there are not much information the web site contains. 

The second product I wanted to look was Febrile Air Effects that I use in the bathroom. I chose this product because I remember one day I accidentally sprayed it into my nose directly and was worried if that caused anything harm to my body. Similar with Raid, Febbreze spray contains cautions for children.  Under Acute Health Effects, there is no eye contact ingestion, but it can cause mild eye irritant.  Also, there is possible mild gastrointestinal irritation with nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. As I mentioned earlier for personal care products, I also agree with that we need to look up what the products we use contain.  Sometimes the advertisement makes us to trust that their products are safe, however we as customers should find it out what the products actually contain.           

Personal Care Products

My first item is Neutrogena hand cream.  Before I searched my item, I assumed it would have lots of bad ingredients since I have a stereotype about Neutrogena brand.  However, I was little surprised that overall hazard level of  Neutrogena hand cream is in between low to moderate. It does not have ingredient that cause cancer.  Also, developmental & reproductive toxicity level is very low. The level of allergies & immunotoxicity and use restrictions are below the moderate as well.  Although there are some concerned ingredients, which I added below.
Other HIGH concerns: Endocrine disruption, Multiple, additive exposure sources; Other MODERATE concerns: Biochemical or cellular level changes; Other LOW concerns: Data gaps, Ecotoxicology, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)


My another item that I use frequently is Burt's bees lip balm.  This product has even lower level of overall hazard than Neutrogena hand cream.  However, unlike Neutrogena hand cream, it contains small amount of the ingredient that causes cancer.  There is no developmental& reproductive toxicity like Neturogena.  Below are the concerned ingredients for this lip balm.
Other HIGH concerns: Multiple, additive exposure sources; Other MODERATE concerns: Contamination concerns; Other LOW concerns: Enhanced skin absorption, Cancer, Data gaps, Ecotoxicology  

From Jane Hoolihan's video, she mentioned that we should consider lower amount exposure since it can cause even more harm.  It is more which ingredients were used in the products rather than the amount.  In particularly, parents have a right to protect their babies who are vulnerable for toxicity as she mentioned in the video.  It is easy to be convened by the advertisement if we don't take a look carefully what ingredients the products have.  Not only babies are vulnerable, but also teenagers are at high risk for exposure to toxicity.  They are more likely to buy products without researching unless their parents educate them to do so.    

Overall, my those 2 items has low level of hazard ingredients, so I will continue to use it now.  However, I will buy new brand for lip balm that does not contain ingredients that causes the cancer next time.  I think everyone should know about the risks of the items when they purchase new items.  In particularly, when they have babies, it would effect them more than adults.  Therefore, we need to decide to purchase the items based on information of toxicity.